Bobbin dispenser

ABSTRACT

A dispenser for storing and dispensing sewing machine bobbins, the device having flexible side walls which define an infeedoutfeed front opening for the bobbins as well as a rear slot through which an ejecting arm can be entered. The dispenser has an ejector mechanism which can be actuated to enter the slot and exert pressure on a bobbin to thrust it out of the infeed-outfeed opening against the light resistance offered by the flexible side walls.

United States Patent [191 Dunbar 111 3,734,347 [451 May 22, 1973 BOBBIN DISPENSER [76] Inventor: Helen Dunbar, 6755 Fraser Street, Vancouver 15, British Columbia, Canada [22] Filed: May 13,1971

21 Appl. No.: 143,040

[52] US. Cl. ..221/134 [51] Int. Cl ..B65g 59/00 [58] Field of Search ..221/88, 134, 64, 221/250, 130, 303, 306, 307, 310, 312, 87, 301

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,098,434 11/1937 Smith ..22l/l34 X 2,998,901 9/1961 Arnold ..221/88 10/1942 Barton ..22l/87X 9/1947 Silverman ..22l/l34X Primary Examiner-Robert B. Reeves Assistant Examiner--Thomas E. Kocovsky AttorneyFetherstonhaugh & Co.

[5 7] ABSTRACT A dispenser for storing and dispensing sewing machine bobbins, the device having flexible side walls which define an infeed-outfeed front opening for the bobbins as well as a rear slot through which an ejecting arm can be entered. The dispenser has an ejector mechanism which can be actuated to enter the slot and exert pressure on a bobbin to thrust it out of the infeed-outfeed opening against the light resistance offered by the flexible side walls.

2 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures Patented May 22, 1973 3,734,347

IA/VEn/Tdl HE L EN DUNBAR If TORI m BOBBIN DISPENSER My invention relates to a dispenser particularly intended for use in storing the supply of bobbins required during the operation of most sewing machines.

Many sewers find it expedient to keep a very large number of bobbins on hand for the various colors and weights of threads and it has always been a problem to store these bobbins in such a way that they can be selected and used quickly and easily. The area around the sewing machine inevitably becomes cluttered with pins, threads and scraps of cloth and these tend to become entangled with the bobbins or the threads thereof so that the sewer must spend an undesirable amount of time searching for and untangling these frequently replaced parts of a sewing machine.

I have overcome this time wasting problem by providing a dispenser in which the bobbins can be stored as a neat protected tier. The dispenser can be kept within easy reach of the sewer and when a change of bobbins is necessary, it is an extremely simple matter to select and dispense the required bobbin. The bobbins can be used in the dispenser and when one is selected, it can be snapped out of the device by depressing a lever with the thumb. A transparent door on the dispenser protects the bobbins from dust and other objects which might appear with the selection and operation of the bobbin.

In drawings which illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention,

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of one embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the dispenser shown in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary vertical section taken on the line 3--3 of FIG. 2,

FIG. 4 is a transverse section taken on the line 44 of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 5 is a front elevation of a portion of another embodiment of theinvention.

Referring to the embodiment of the bobbin dispenser illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 4 of the drawings, the device generally indicated by the numeral comprises a cylindrical holder 11. Holder 11 has an open frame 12 which preferably is formed of side rods 14 and 15 as well as bottom and top plates 16 and 17. The disc-like end plates 16 and 17 are each provided with laterally projecting lugs 20, see particularly FIG. 2, and the opposite ends of the parallel side rods 14 and 15 are suitably secured to these plugs. This particular construction provides a lightweight and quite rigid frame 12 which supports the operating parts of the bobbin dispenser l0.

Mounted within the frame 12 is a cylindrical cage 30 formed of a pair of side walls 32 which are suitably secured to the sides of end discs 33 and 34. The discs 33 and 34 are secured to the end plates 16 and 17 by centrally disposed screws 35 and 36 (FIGS. 2 and 3). As shown best in FIG. 4, the generally rectangular walls 32 are formed of thin strips of metal or plastic material which is quite flexible, the strips being curved in crosssection so as to provide an open cylindrical side wall for the holder 11. The longitudinally extending side walls 32 are circumferentially spaced apart to provide the cage 30 with a front opening 37 and a relatively narrow rear slot 38, both of which provide access to a cylindrical chamber 39, which is defined by said side walls and the end discs 33 and 34.

Fitted to the cage 30 is a door 40 which preferably is made of transparent plastic so as to provide a clear view of the contents of the bobbin dispenser 10. The door 40 is semi-circular in cross-section (FIG. 4) and is swingingly mounted on the side rod 14 by means of hinge members 41, see particularly FIG. 3. These hinge members 41 frictionally grip the rod 14 and offer a limited amount of resistance to opening and closing movement of the door 40. Thus, the door 40 can be opened to the dotted line position shown in FIG. 4 and will remain in this open position just as it will remain in the fully closed or solid line position also shown in FIG. 4.

The chamber 39 of the holder 11 is intended to be filled with a plurality of bobbins 45 of the type used in most conventional sewing machines. These standard size bobbins 45 have a tubular hub 46 and apertured side flanges 47 which normally contain a wound supply of sewing machine thread 48. The bobbin dispenser 10, of course, may be used to store and dispense empty bobbins 45 as well.

Referring again to FIG. 4, it will be noted the side edges 50 of the flexible walls 32 which define the opening 37 are spaced apart a distance slightly less than the diameter of the side flanges 47 of the bobbins. In order to insert a bobbin 45 into the chamber 39, the door 40 is swung open and the bobbin is fed through the opening 37. This may be done by tilting the bobbin 45 slightly to fit the opening 37 but, preferably, it is accomplished simply by holding the bobbin in the normal horizontal position and snapping it into the chamber 39 by exerting a laterally directed push thereon to force apart the side edges 50 of the walls 32. The walls 32, or more particularly, the side edges 50 thereof, must be sprung apart slightly to admit the bobbins but since said walls are formed of easily flexed material, no great effort is required to load the present dispenser with the bobbins. Once the bobbins 45 are lodged in the chamber 39, the edges of their flanges 47 are slightly gripped by the side walls 32 and it is then a simple matter to slide each inserted bobbin up or down the cage as required to deposit it in any desired position, this being done by means of a very light pressure exerted by a finger of the user entered through the front opening 37. Thus, a supply of full or empty bobbins 45 can be stored one on top of another to entirely fill the space between the end discs 33 and 34 if necessary and to form a column or tier as shown in FIG. 1.

To remove the bobbins 45 from the cage 30, the dispenser 10 is provided with ejector means generally indicated at 55. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the means 55 comprises an ejecting arm 56 which has a hub 57 on one end thereof, the hub being rotatably and slidably mounted on the rod 15. Projecting outwardly from the hub 57 is an operating lever 58. A vertically disposed finger 59 is secured to the free end of the arm 56 and said arm is suitably shaped whereby said finger can be moved into and out of the rear slot 38 by actuation of the lever 58.

In operation, the door 40 is opened and the ejector means 55 is moved up or down the rod 15 as required to place it in horizontal alignment with a particular bobbin 45 selected for dispensing and, when finger pressure is applied to the lever 58, the arm 56 is swung so that the finger 59 enters the slot 38 and engages the periphery of the selected bobbin whereby to thrust said bobbin out of the front opening 37. Enough pressure must be exerted on the bobbin to spring apart the edges 50 of the side walls of the cage but no great effort is required to do this and the bobbin can quite readily be snapped out of the cage 30 into the sewers hand by a quick flipping motion of the ejector means 55. Alternatively, a bobbin 45 can be removed from the device simply by inserting the tips of two fingers through the front opening 37 whereby to grasp the selected bobbin which is then snapped out of the cage by pulling it forward so as to spring apart the edges 50 of the flexible side walls.

Referring now the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 5, the numeral 60 indicates generally a bobbin dispenser which is constructed substantially as described above and which has corresponding parts designated by the same numerals. This only slightly modified dispenser 60 is provided with an ejector means 55A for each bobbin 45 capable of being stored within the cage 30. Each ejector means 55A comprises a hub 57A which is rotatably but not slidably mounted on the rod 15. The hubs 57A of the several ejector means 55A form a continuous sleeve extending from end to end of the rod 15 and the arms 56A are thus regularly spaced apart to correspond to the spacing of the bobbins 45 contained within the cage 30. To eject a particular bobbin 45, the appropriate lever 58A is swung to move its finger 59A into the rear slot 38 and thereby thrust the selected bobbin out of the front opening 37 as before. The bobbins 45 can also be extracted from the dispenser 60 by using the fingers of the hand as previously described.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent I have provided a simply and inexpensively constructed dispenser which will keep filled or empty bobbins stored and ready for use at any time. The cover 40 helps to keep dust from entering the cage 30 and prevents small objects such as pins and the like, as well as other threads, from becoming entangled with the bobbins as so often happens around a sewing area. It is extremely easy to load the dispenser with the bobbins and to dispense a required bobbin simply by opening the door 40 and flipping the appropriate lever 58. The dispenser can be made of any desired length, for example, it may be quite short to hold, say, six bobbins such as might be required by the average housewife, or the dispenser may be relatively long to hold a large number of bobbins such as a tailor or professional dressmaker might require.

I claim:

1. A bobbin dispenser comprising an open frame having end plates connected by longitudinally extending side rods, flexible side walls extending between the end plates and supported within the open frame parallel to the side rods; said flexible side walls being circumferentially spaced apart to provide a bobbin-storing chamber, a transversely expandable front opening, and a rear slot; said front opening having a width slightly less than the diameter of the bobbins which are adapted to be stored as a tier within the chamber, an ejecting arm slidably and rotatably mounted on one of the side rods of the frame, said arm having an operating lever and a bobbin-engaging finger on opposite ends thereof.

2. A bobbin dispenser comprising an open frame having end plates-connected by longitudinally extending side rods, flexible sidewalls extending between the end plates and supported within the open frame parallel to the side rods; said flexible side walls being circumferentially spaced apart to provide a bobbin-storing chamber, a transversely expandable front opening, and a rear slot; said front opening having a width slightly less than the diameter of the bobbins which are adapted to be stored as a tier within the chamber, an ejecting arm rotatably mounted on one of the side rods of the frame alongside each bobbin contained in the fully loaded chamber, each of said ejecting arms having an operating lever and a bobbin-engaging finger on opposite ends thereof. 

1. A bobbin dispenser comprising an open frame having end plates connected by longitudinally extending side rods, flexible side walls extending between the end plates and supported within the open frame parallel to the side rods; said flexible side walls being circumferentially spaced apart to provide a bobbin-storing chamber, a transversely expandable front opening, and a rear slot; said front opening having a width slightly less than the diameter of the bobbins which are adapted to be stored as a tier within the chamber, an ejecting arm slidably and rotatably mounted on one of the side rods of the frame, said arm having an operating lever and a bobbin-engaging finger on opposite ends thereof.
 2. A bobbin dispenser comprising an open frame having end plates connected by longitudinally extending side rods, flexible sidewalls extending between the end plates and supported within the open frame parallel to the side rods; said flexible side walls being circumferentially spaced apart to provide a bobbin-storing chamber, a transversely expandable front opening, and a rear slot; said front opening having a width slightly less than the diameter of the bobbins which are adapted to be stored as a tier within the chamber, an ejecting arm rotatably mounted on one of the side rods of the frame alongside each bobbin contained in the fully loaded chamber, each of said ejecting arms having an operating lever and a bobbin-engaging finger on opposite ends thereof. 